roue

PRONUNCIATION:

(roo-AY, ROO-ay)

MEANING:

noun: A debauched man, especially an elderly man from a wealthy or aristocratic family.

ETYMOLOGY:

From French roué (literally, broken on a wheel), from rouer (to break on the
wheel), from Latin rota (wheel). The word arose from the belief that such a
person deserved this punishment. Earliest documented use: 1781.

NOTES:

The word was first applied to the companions of Philippe II, Duke of
Orleans. The breaking wheel was an instrument of torture on which a victim
was put and bludgeoned to death.

USAGE:

"Patrick Lichfield, the Queen's dandified cousin, invested in the shop
because its founders were, as he said with a roue's smirk, 'two of my
old girlfriends'."
Peter Conrad; The Big Picture; The Observer (London, UK); Nov 20, 2011.